Urban / Contemporary Fantasy All-Time Greats

Harry Dresden is Chicago's first (and only) professional wizard. He advertises in the Yellow Pages and works with the Chicago PD on cases involving the supernatural. When two victims are found with their hearts ripped out through magic, Harry must investigate—while keeping himself alive against the dark forces that want him dead.

Shadow is a man who serves his prison time by picking up work where he can find it. After his release, he meets a mysterious man who calls himself Wednesday, and a storm is coming—one that will battle for the very soul of America.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Two young magicians are trained from childhood to compete against each other in an arena they cannot choose to leave—a mysterious black-and-white circus that becomes an obsession for all who encounter it.

Richard Mayhew is a young London businessman with a perfectly normal life—until he stops to help a girl bleeding on the pavement. His act of charity drops him into a world he never knew existed, a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, that lives in the hidden gaps and secret places of London Below.

According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, the world will end on a Saturday. An angel and a demon who have been on Earth since The Beginning must work together to avert Armageddon—but they rather like the world as it is.

Book 1 in the Rivers of London series, from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch. My name is Peter Grant, and I used to be a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service, and to everyone else as the Filth. My story really begins when I tried to take a witness statement from a man who was already dead... Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. After taking a statement from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost, Peter comes to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Suddenly, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic. Praise for the Rivers of London novels: 'Ben Aaronovitch has created a wonderful world full of mystery, magic and fantastic characters. I love being there more than the real London' NICK FROST 'As brilliant and funny as ever' THE SUN 'Charming, witty, exciting' THE INDEPENDENT 'An incredibly fast-moving magical joyride for grown-ups' THE TIMES Discover why this incredible series has sold over two million copies around the world. If you're a fan of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams - don't panic - you will love Ben Aaronovitch's imaginative, irreverent and all-round irresistible novels.

Quentin Coldwater is clever but unhappy, obsessed with a series of fantasy novels about a magical land called Fillory. When he is unexpectedly admitted to Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, he discovers that the magic he read about as a child is real—but so is the darkness that comes with it.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews invites you to experience the first novel in the “intriguing world” (Locus) of Kate Daniels with this special edition of Magic Bites... Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league—but she wouldn’t want it any other way... This special edition includes in-depth information about the world of Kate Daniels, with descriptions of its characters and factions. Explore Kate’s Atlanta like never before with answers to FAQ and a quiz to find your place there. And don’t miss the prequel story “A Questionable Client,” as well as scenes of events in Magic Bites from Curran’s point of view.

Ilona Andrews invites you to experience the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring the intriguing fantasy world of mercenary Kate Daniels… Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way our of her league—but she wouldn’t want it any other way… This edition includes in-depth information about the world of Kate Daniels with descriptions of its characters and factions. Explore Kate’s Atlanta like never before with a quiz to find your place there and with answers to frequently asked questions. And don’t miss the prequel story “A Questionable Client” as well as scenes of events in Magic Bites from Curran’s point of view.

Collecting books can be a dangerous prospect in this fun, time-traveling, fantasy adventure—the first in the Invisible Library series! One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction... Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself. Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself... FEATURING BONUS MATERIAL: including an interview with the author, a legend from the Library, and more!

'Impossible to put down' STEPHEN KING __________________ THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FANTASY OF 2019 AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF OCTOBER 2019 A 2020 LOCUS AWARD FINALIST IN DEVELOPMENT FOR TELEVISION WITH AMAZON STUDIOS BY THE BESTSELLING CREATOR OF THE GRISHAVERSE AND THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES SHADOW AND BONE STEP INTO THE WORLD OF NINTH HOUSE __________________ Galaxy 'Alex' Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class. A dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved crime, Alex was hoping for a fresh start. But a free ride to one of the world's most prestigious universities was bound to come with a catch. Alex has been tasked with monitoring the mysterious activities of Yale's secret societies - well-known haunts of the rich and powerful. Now there's a dead girl on campus and Alex seems to be the only person who won't accept the neat answer the police and campus administration have come up with for her murder. Because Alex knows the secret societies are far more sinister and extraordinary than anyone ever imagined. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And sometimes they prey on the living . . . 'One of the best fantasy novels I've read in years' LEV GROSSMAN 'Ninth House rocked my world' JOE HILL 'I wouldn't blame you for taking the day off to finish it' KELLY LINK 'Mesmerising' CHARLAINE HARRIS 'Compulsively readable' KIRKUS 'Atmospheric' BOOKLIST 'The fantasy novel of the year' THE I

In the early nineteenth century, two magicians emerge to change England's history. The reclusive Mr Norrell has been preparing for years to restore English magic. The young Jonathan Strange has a wilder, more unpredictable talent. Together they help England fight Napoleon—but soon they are at war with each other.

Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, he makes careful observations: the House is beautiful, its rooms full of marvels. He is not afraid—though sometimes he wonders if he should be.

A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home and remembers an extraordinary event from when he was seven years old. He befriended a girl at the end of his lane whose family kept something ancient and unknowable in their pond. A meditation on memory, childhood, and the unknowable forces that shape our lives.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins stumbles across a book in his university library that contains a story from his own childhood. He follows a series of clues leading him to a subterranean world beneath a hotel—a place of pirates, painters, lovers, and assassins. A timeless love story set in an underground sea of story.

Young Tristran Thorn promises his heart's desire—the beautiful Victoria—that he will retrieve a fallen star from beyond the Wall that separates their village from the enchanted kingdom of Faerie. What he finds is not a lump of rock but a young woman named Yvaine, who is not at all pleased to be captured.

'You don't read this book so much as surrender to it. A dark and heady swoon' THE GUARDIAN 'As rich is suspense as it is in lush '50s atmosphere' ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY He is trying to poison me. You must come for me, Noemí. You have to save me. After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, socialite Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She's not sure what she will find - her cousin's husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Noemí is more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she's also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: not of her cousin's new alluring, menacing husband; not of his father; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi's dreams with dark visions. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family's once colossal wealth and faded mining empire keeps them safe from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper, she unearths stories of violence and madness. And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may find it impossible to escape. 'Darkly brilliant and captivating' YANGSZE CHOO, bestselling author of The Fox Wife 'Moreno-Garcia gets it absolutely right' THE TELEGRAPH